Across The Atlantic: Fourth Edition, 16th December 2011
Every fortnight (that is two weeks in case you are reading this hung-over) I will collect, evaluate and release all the film-tastic news that may or may not have made your radar due to it being UK/European specific. Some of it you may read, the majority of it however will probably leave you scratching feverishly at your skull wondering “Who is this? And why am I reading this balderdash!”
It is less than two weeks until Christmas Day (or not, if you don’t celebrate the day/holiday) and exactly fifteen days until the final day of the Gregorian calendar, and as you can imagine, film news is somewhat thin on the ground around this period, but I’ve tried my best to bring you the little nuggets of information that I think you’ll enjoy.
The Advertising Standards Authority has banned this poster for Final Destination 5 citing the fact that it was likely to “cause fear and undue distress to children” after 13 complaints were registered to the body. [BBC]
A Frank Lloyd Wright (left) biopic is in the works, with the film looking to concentrate primarily upon the events which happened at the American architect’s home in 1914, which saw his mistress Martha Cheney, her two children and four others murdered at his home by a male servant. [BBC]
The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones recently met the surrealist Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer in his home in Prague to discuss anything and everything about the brilliant filmmakers life and work. [Guardian]
Feature on the BBFC and censorship in the United Kingdom, concerning itself primarily with the distinction between 12A and 15 rated films with the BBFC director David Cooke explaining how they come to justify these decisions using Casino Royale and The King’s Speech as recent examples. [Guardian]
Are Urban street dramas (Kidulthood, Top Boy) part of the solution or part of the problem? Zindzi Rocque-Drayton explores the gritty dramas and their impact alongside the London Riots which took place earlier this year. [Guardian]
REC 3: Genesis Trailer. Directed by Paco Plaza ([REC] Series), it is being distributed by Fox Searchlight and is due for release on the 30th March 2012. Sit back, watch and enjoy. [TotalFilm]
Jane Goldman (right), the screenwriter behind Kick-Ass and The Woman in Black, has been selected to adapt Ransom Riggs novel Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, which follows a teenager as he explores an abandoned orphanage where the previous inhabitants may have been a bit more than eccentric orphans. [TotalFilm]
Felicity Jones will star as Ellen Ternan in Ralph Fiennes second directorial feature The Invisible Woman which follows a young girl as she embarks on a thirteen year affair with Charles Dickens. [TotalFilm]
Paddy Considine’s gut-wrenching directorial debut, Tyrannosaur, has picked up the Best British Independent Film, Best Actress for Olivia Colman and the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director at the British Independent Awards which were announced on at a ceremony on the Sunday 4th of December. Other Award winners include Lynne Ramsey (Best Director) for We Need To Talk About Kevin and Michael Fassbender (Best Actor) for Shame. [Empire]
The trailer for the Chemical Brothers (left) concert film Don’t Think has finally been released. Directed by Adam Smith, who has been designing visuals for their shows for over eighteen years, says he wanted to create “moments of joy, fear and mad escapism,” and by the looks of the trailer, I think he may have just achieved that! It is expected to open worldwide on February 1st 2012. [Empire]
Dominic Cooper has signed on to Christopher Menaul’s (First Night) early twentieth century drama Summer in February alongside Hattie Morahan and Ophelia Lovibond. [Empire]
Stephen Frears and his producing buddy Jeremy Thomas are looking to remake Frears 1984 film The Hit. But instead of being set in London, they’re looking to cross the atlantic instead, and set the remake within the United States. [Empire]
Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are ever so-slowly moving ahead with the third film in their Three Flavours trilogy, which Frost hopes will start shooting next year. [BleedingCool]
Yes, yes, YES! The man behind Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, Matthew Holness, is finally going to be getting his hands dirty in the feature film world with his new project The Reprisalizer. Based on his short film A Gun for George it follows a pulp fiction writer who is plagued with ultra-violent (vigilante) tendancies. [BleedingCool]
Bleeding Cool has two new clips from the Doctor Who Christmas special entitled The Widow and the Wardrobe. [BleedingCool]
Colin Firth has officially passed on the role of the villainous jailer in Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake. [BloodyDisgusting]
IFC are utilizing the poster (which can be seen at Fangoria) they used in the UK for Kill List in the United States as well. Released on Video-On-Demand on the 4th of January and in select theatres stateside on the 3rd of February, Kill List still remains one of my favourite films of this year and something you don’t want to miss. [Fangoria]
Also, because I am a huge fan of the film, here is another trailer for Kill List to get you salivating like a rabid dog. [Fangoria]
Naomi Watts and Robin Wright Penn have signed on to star in Christopher Hampton’s (screenwriter behind Atonment and A Dangerous Method) controversial film Grandmothers, which follows the two ‘older ladies’ as they attempt to seduce each other’s’ teenage sons. [Metro]
Michael Fassbender is inching ever closer to potential Oscar glory next year as he picked up yet another award to go alongside those won at Venice and the British Independent Film Awards. He was chosen for the accolade of Best Actor by the Los Angeles Critics Association for his portrayal of sex-addict in Steve McQueen’s Shame. [Metro]
After grossing over £25 million at the UK Box Office, the Inbetweeners Movie shows no signs of letting up as it sold over 600,000 DVD’s on its first day of release! [Metro]
Fresh from Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, Sacha Baron Cohen (left) will play Monsieur Thenardier, another villainous character in a cinematic adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserables. [TheSun]
Lars von Trier’s wife, Bente Froge, accepted the award for Best Film on behalf of her husband (no repeat of Cannes here…) at the European Film Awards on Sunday 4th December. Other big winners included Colin Firth as Best European Actor for The Kings Speech and Tilda Swinton as Best Actress for her brilliant performance in Lynne Ramsey’s We Need To Talk About Kevin. [EuropeanFilmAward]
(Still from Svankmajer’s Food (1992))
Something For The Weekend: Ahh, Svankmajer! I remember writing a 3,000 word essay at university about the works of Svanky, Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica, and some of the pictures I had to view still haunt me to this day, but now you can also share my horrifying amazement at the beautiful yet utterly disturbing stop-motion animation that this Czech genius created. Just head across to Dailymotion where many kind souls have uploaded the majority of his works/animations. [Dailymotion]
1 Comment
So is Lars going to have his wife do the public appearances for his movies now?
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